the peaceful pro-palestine encampment today at my university was met with brutal police force from both the campus and state cops. several of my friends were tear-gassed by a full fucking bus of SWAT. this was after a full day of nonviolent protesting involving dancing, singing, and writing supportive messages on the ground in chalk, and i'm unspeakably angry and worried for those who were beaten and arrested tonight. anyway, i was nowhere nearly as brave as the hundreds of my fellow students who were out there fighting for palestinian liberation against the pigs and our university tonight, but a reminder to always always fight to abolish the police.
(And here we are at the end, a day late with 1213 words referencing a few previous writings such as "Here" and "Misunderstanding." As for when this takes place in my 6.x patch timeline? I dunno! We'll figure that out later.)
The Thavnairian night was warm and a bit sticky, though a cool breeze wafted in from the windows. None of this prevented Aeryn from easing into Thancred’s lap, her right side leaning against him, legs stretched out over the couch. She wore another of his shirts and little else, so he couldn’t be too annoyed.
“Something’s on your mind,” he said, taking the opportunity to smooth his right hand along her left thigh, back and forth gently, enjoying the softness of her skin at odds with the toned muscle beneath.
She huffed a brief chuckle, head resting on his shoulder. She nodded once.
“And I presume it’s something you wish to discuss?” he asked dryly.
“If you’re up for it.”
“You do have me pinned down.”
Aeryn’s head tilted up, eyes sparkling like stars. “You could move me if you really wanted.”
“I could,” Thancred agreed, continuing to stroke her thigh while his left hand played with her long black hair, hanging loose down her back. “But I rather enjoy having you in my lap, so I suppose I must at least hear you out.”
She smiled, but hesitated a moment before snuggling against his chest again, not having to look at him this way. “It’s about when we returned from Ultima Thule. When I awoke in our room in the Annex.”
He carefully squeezed her, recalling too vividly those days. “What about it?”
“When we were discussing…everything that had happened, sorting it out between us. There were…you said some things.”
Ah. Yes, he had, hadn’t he?
“Did you mean them?” Her voice sounded small and tentative.
He let out a breath, his thoughts scattered and heart striking a bit harder, a tad faster, while he felt a warmth unrelated to the jungle air. Her fingers curled in the fabric of his shirt over his chest as she waited for his answer.
“I did,” he rasped, then cleared his throat. “Every word. You know that I did.” With her sensitive Echo she couldn’t have missed it in his vulnerable state at the time.
A tension melted from Aeryn, and he heard the smile in her voice. “I needed to hear you say it,” she said.
He still felt he was only just beginning to understand that. So he took a deep breath. “And what of you, my lady?” he asked. “Dare I ask if you harbor similar sentiments?”
“I want to be with you,” she said. “I know we both need our times apart, but we always come back together. When we do, whether it’s Mor Dhona, or Sharlayan, or here, or wherever, it’s…Home. With you.”
“Well,” he said, still playing with her hair. “It’s nice to be wanted.”
She sat up, blinking in that way she had when she became aware of a long sub-conscious realization. “Yes, exactly,” she answered, beaming. “I’ve never…I don’t understand when people say they need another person, as if that’s as essential as air and food and water. I watched my parents deal with the losses of their first loves, and then find love again together. They weren’t…incomplete, or needing another, or anything; but they…complemented one another. And it was a choice, to open themselves to that, especially after so much pain.” Aeryn looked at him, that familiar little thinking crease between her brows. “That makes sense to me. Wanting to be together, choosing it. That seems more…right…I guess—I’m just being weird and rambling and not making sense.”
Thancred laughed, cupping her face in his palm. “You are a bit with the first two, but regarding the third, you are in fact making sense.”
“Oh good. Wait…” She mrf’d as he interrupted her with a long, slow kiss. When they broke, she giggled, blushing, while he leaned his forehead on hers.
“I think I rather like being chosen,” he admitted. “Being needed is…nice, in its own way, but I see where one might also feel trapped by it, or how devastating that can make a loss feel.”
“I’d rather promise to be together because we want it, not because it feels inevitable,” Aeryn said. “I’ve had quite enough of inevitability in my life already.” She looked away, smile sadder now. “I used to resent that feeling of destiny, that reliance, between Hydaelyn and myself. And then…I learned that it was because She was keeping a promise made to me long ago. I just wish I’d known it sooner.”
“Ah, so competing with a supreme divinity, am I?” he deadpanned.
Aeryn eyerolled, fingers nimbly slipping under his shirt to tickle him, making him hiss and squirm. “Of course not. Just pointing out parallels.”
He snatched her hand, his other arm wrapped around her as he half rose and turned, dropping Aeryn on her back on the couch to lean over her. “Good; just making certain.”
“Hold on,” she said. “I wanted to give you something.” At his raised brows she gestured to the little table by the door.
Thancred stood and retrieved it himself; a small, soft item in a colorful scrap of silk. “Is this the cause of your nervous rambles?” he asked, unwrapping the cloth. Then he stared.
It was a hand-woven bracelet. The clasp was a small, stylized silver shield resembling a traditional gunbreaker symbol, but with roguish daggers crossed on its surface. The band itself was primarily white, with shadowy blue and purple accents. And in each braid there was a single, thin thread of a familiar shade of pink.
“I used one of Ryne’s hair ribbons,” Aeryn said. “Nabbed on one of my more recent trips to the First. The rest…felt right and anyroad, I know we’re both still deciding how ready we are for…more, but I just…” She fiddled with the bracelet he had gifted her long ago. It had been carefully repaired after Ultima Thule and returned to her left wrist.
“I am given to understand,” he said, finally finding his voice. “That such a gift is used as a promise to one’s paramour, a prayer to the gods to grant their divine protection over one’s love, and the tighter the weave, the closer the connection between mortal and divine.”
Aeryn shrugged, smiling sheepishly, her blush bright across her face. “We both tend to wander, and our adventures lead us into all sorts of trouble, together and separate.” She looked at her own bracelet. “Knowing what we do now of akasa, mayhap there’s something to that belief.”
He laughed, returning to the couch and holding the bracelet out. She took it, and wrapped it around his wrist, the click of the clasp nearly inaudible. “So; a promise of its own, then?”
Aeryn nodded. “That we’ve chosen one another, despite the grand fates of the gods we’ve outlived. That we’ll come home to one another, regardless how far we roam. And that sooner rather than later…”
“We shall promise more, when we’re ready.”
“In our own time, in our own way.” She paused. “Hopefully without my grandmothers finding out until it’s too late for them to overrun our choices.”
“Oh, now you’re flirting with danger on par with the Endsinger,” he teased, pulling her close.
Aeryn laughed, happily returning to Thancred’s lap, as they leaned together and spoke a while longer, on choices, promises, and a rough plan for their shared future.
--
(This isn't actually engaged yet so don't get too excited; it's more that mutual recognition of "we are going to get married someday, one of us will ask and the other say yes, but we have a few details to figure out yet and some work to do in the meantime." They're babystepping it.)
So ... I am the person who wrote you about hotch having DID and I saw the other thing asking that maybe I could investigate a little more so I'm here to say some things that exist this was in my research on DID and it should be clarified that I have 15 years, I have no DID, and my knowledge may not be the best (so I condemn that you do not take this as the absolute truth and do your own research) but I hope I can help. Now alters tend to have a number of hours taking control, so to speak, they also have a role in the system (a perfect example is that hotch would have a protector role within the system) in the same way they can have negative triggers like positive, with negative triggers I mean some mention about the abuse suffered so that the alter existed in the first place or something that reminds him of the abuser, and with positive it can be from a song that the alter likes or some food in particular, or even a specific person, they can also have different accents and ages (personally I like to believe that Aaron is a bit more childish, I mean that his personality as an alter may at times seem like Greg Montgomery, another Thomas Gibson character ) can also block memories so to speak so that a person simply has no idea that he was abused, because the alter stayed with all those memories. There is a story in which Peter Parker has DID that story was the one that led me to investigate this, perhaps this can help you, the author also did his research on the did
https://www.archiveofourown.org/series/1892590
this little message is for the person who wrote the other question if sarah publishes this I want you to know that I spend hours trying to understand the disorder I hope the information is correct, honestly I am a little nervous that it is not
Oh Anon, thank you for taking your time to explain your own research! I am positive that the other Anon is not upset with you <3 We're all learning today! And the best way to learn is to be guided by those who are knowledgeable on the subject! You shouldn't be nervous, but I completely understand why/how you're feeling <3 Just know that I myself am very grateful to you, both for your first ask and for this follow-up. You're very sweet, curious, and just want to share ideas! There's nothing wrong with that <3
Now, about this ask in particular: I can definitely see Aaron being more like Greg (I love Dharma and Greg btw <3)! He's the host personality of the system, while Hotch is his protector. I can definitely see Hotch being triggered when he "sees" that Aaron is in danger (emotionally, mentally, physically), and he's ready to tackle whatever it is that could be upsetting Aaron.
I did happen to do my own bit of research on this, on how alters can front/be triggered, but I am going to say that I am no expert on DID, nor can I speak for everyone who has DID! Just like with any disorder (ASD/ADHD) or mental illness (anxiety/depression) everyone is different and reacts/experiences these things differently. Two people with DID may experience it in a completely different way from one another!
I would love to dip my toes (so to speak) into the idea of Aaron having DID (which is classified as a person having two or more personalities in the same host/body- so even tho he is only Aaron and Hotch, he would still be considered as someone with DID). This reminds me of that ask I received about him being a sociopath. The fun and endlessly fascinating thing about fanfiction (well, fiction in general) is that we can play around with these characters and explore them in ways that we may never have thought of before! (A good example of this is that I see a lot of fics where people explore the idea of Spencer actually ending up with schizophrenia).
So! With that all said, I would love to continue hearing your thoughts/ideas about this subject! And to everyone reading this, please feel free to share any credible sources/websites that you use when you do research into such topics! Sharing is caring <3
I'm with you, torn on if it's happening this month or next (I'm assuming it's happening this year, given all the wedding festivities) They always disappear for the holidays so I wonder if they'll pop up in January as a married couple
That was my original thought (holiday disappearance and pop up married in January)!
My flip flop as to whether it’s November or December is yes - all the wedding festivities - Mia having just had the bachelorette weekend which is often quite close to a wedding. Though with the chaotic schedule (D may still be filming ‘Midway’ as he got that haircut again, and of course there’s LMDC at end of month in UK), I’m sure they just fit things in when they can.
Today is November 12 - so it’s either like this week or next or more likely over the hollies. Yay them!
I’m gonna start just saving my asks from my inbox and making thread posts out of them so people can actually see and REBLOG THE POSTS
So far, absolutely NO ONE has been spreading or sharing my ask posts around, and the two times someone has, turns out the first time it was just a random ass dude telling me to contact him 5 times and the one person who did spread my post around, it was in a regular post form instead of an ask response post. So, I’m going to be making posts and link the accounts and posts of the people who message me instead so hopefully they can gain more traction and people will actually spread them around.
I hope you guys understand as to why I’m doing this and I hope now people will see and share my posts around and/or even donate to them as well, even if it is only one person.
